Kiss away the pain
by Drives-me-crazy
Summary: AU Paige's just moved to Rosewood. While struggling with problems at home, she meets this beautiful girl with some problems of her own. Will they be able to help each other out? "Can you just... hold me close and kiss away the pain?" Rated M for upcoming chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Kiss away the pain**

_**Paige's POV**_

I put out my cell phone to check the time. 2:24. An hour had passed since I left my house. I knew I shouldn't be out at this hour but I just needed to clear my head a little. I kicked a little rock on the street as I walked. I had no idea where I was going, I just kept on walking.

We got here today. Rosewood it is. It's nicer than I imagined. My dad just got a job offer and we had to move. I wasn't very happy about it since this was my senior year but it's not like he cared about any of that. Being at home was getting almost unbearable. Frustrated tears were just starting to form in my eyes again when I heard a voice come from the other side of the street.

"Oh shit…!" It was a girl that looked like she was coming from some party and had gotten pretty wasted. Her phone slipped from her hand and fell to the ground. She went down to reach it but lost her balance and fell on her ass. I crossed the street to get to where she was. She was staring into space now.

"Uh, are you ok?" I asked offering my hand to her. A single tear rolled down her face and she started sobbing.

"Why? Why is she…? I love her, I really do; it's just… why…?" she couldn't stop sobbing now and she wasn't breathing properly.

"Hey, calm down" I grabbed her phone and sat down next to her. "What's your name?"

"Emily" she choked out.

"Ok, Emily. Do you live around here?" she pointed down the street. "Right, I'll get you home, ok?" she just nodded. I stood up, pulling her by the arm. She managed to get on her feet but had to lean on me to walk. I looked at her; she was just wearing skinny jeans and a jean vest over a sleeveless top. It was a cold night so I took off my leather jacket and put it over her shoulders.

"Thanks…" she muttered.

"Don't mention it" we continued walking down the street in silence for a while, when she spoke again.

"Have you… ever been in love with someone?" she said not looking at me.

"Um, I don't think so..." I said honestly. I tried to avoid looking at her. Her face was so close I could feel the smell of alcohol in her breath.

"I have… I love her but… When did everything turn into this mess?" she was breaking down again. I slowed down, rubbing her shoulders to give her some comfort. She looked up again. "I know she loves me too, I know she didn't mean to…" she was looking at me, like she was expecting me to give her the answers she was looking for. I didn't know what to say, so I just pulled her in for a hug and let her cry on my shoulder for a while. It hurt to see her crushed like this, even though she was just some girl I just met. She eventually calmed down again, pulling away.

"Sorry…" she whispered. I could see her long eyelashes as she was looking down on to the ground. I found myself staring at her lips now and decided to let go of her. I felt like I had to say something.

"Hey…" I touched her arm and she looked up at me. "I don't know what's going on with you, but everything is going to be okay. You'll see" I gave her a smile and she smiled back. She was really beautiful.

"Thanks…" she said.

We continued our way down the street to her house. I stood on the porch as she handed me my jacket back. There was an awkward silence.

"Well… take care, Emily" I said starting to walk away from the house.

"Wait! What's your name?" I looked at her, wondering if we would encounter each other again anytime soon. I smiled, hoping we would.

"It's Paige. Paige McCullers"

* * *

Ok, this is scary. I've always wanted to do a multichaptered story but it never really worked out. I decided to give this one a shot, I hope it's not too bad. I don't know how many chapters there will be (probably not that many)... please let me know what you think :)


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_**Emily's POV**_

I woke up and my head was pounding like crazy. _'How much did I drink last night?' _I thought. I barely remembered going home after the party. I checked my phone; there were 7 texts and 13 missed calls all from the girls, probably wondering where I was last night. After I called the three of them to let them know I was fine a new text appeared. It was from Marion, asking if she could come by. I subconsciously lifted a hand to my cheek. I sent her a quick reply saying she could and made my way to the kitchen to have some breakfast.

About 20 minutes later the doorbell rang. I took a deep breath before I opened the door.

"Hi" she gave me a little smile. She was playing with her hands nervously. "Um, can I…?"

"… sure" I stepped aside for her to come in. I closed the door after her and she turned around to face me.

"Em, I'm so sorry" I looked in to her eyes and saw she was telling the truth. "I don't know what happened… I love you so much, you have to believe me" she said coming closer to me and taking my hands in hers.

"I know…" I whispered, tears forming in my eyes.

"Hey" she said cupping my face and wiping a tear away with her thumb. "… give me another chance. I promise I will make it up to you" I just nodded weakly as she kissed my forehead. "How about I take you to dinner tonight? I promise we'll be home early since school starts tomorrow"

"Okay…" I said pulling away. She made her way to the door.

"So, I'll come pick you up at 7" she said waving at me. "I love you"

"… I love you too" I said managing a weak smile and saw her walk away.

I made my way back to the house and I froze when I saw my mom coming down the stairs.

"Hi, love. Was that Marion?"

"Yeah, she just came by to say she'll take me out to dinner tonight"

"Oh, that's sweet. Just don't stay out too late, school starts tomorrow"

"Yeah, I know" my body relaxed once I made sure she hadn't heard anything.

"By the way, who was that girl from last night?" she said from the kitchen.

"What girl?" I said confused sitting at the table.

"Last night, when you came home… there was a girl with you"

I thought about it for a moment and the memories came one by one. I blushed remembering how I opened up with a stranger and cried like a baby, and then the color left my face. _'Oh god… Why did I tell her all that?'_ I saw that my mom was staring at me, waiting for me to answer.

"Oh! Um, I think her name was… Paige?" I said, barely remembering the last bit of our conversation.

"Paige? McCullers?" she said looking at me surprised.

"Do you know her?"

"No, but I know she and her parents just got to Rosewood yesterday. They don't live around here though… what was she doing here so late in the night?"

"Um, I wonder" I said hoping I wouldn't meet her again anytime soon. I shouldn't have told her all that stuff yesterday. If by any chance anyone I knew heard any of that, they'd ask questions I didn't know how to answer.

I sat there just thinking about last night. There was something I remembered pretty clearly though. Paige's smell when she pulled me into a hug and her soft voice when she told me everything would be okay. I closed my eyes, hanging on to those words.

* * *

I got out of my car and started walking towards the school entrance when I saw Marion. Everything had pretty much gone back to normal after last night's dinner.

"Hey" I said taking her hand.

"Hi, babe" she said giving me a kiss. We continued our way to the entrance when I saw a flash of auburn her. Paige was chaining her bike to the iron bars. She looked up and our eyes met. She smiled at me but I couldn't smile back. Crap, why didn't I think we would probably go to the same high school? She wouldn't have talked to anyone about what happened last night, would she?

I needed to talk to her.

* * *

I know it's very short but I'm trying to do this right... I promise this will get better, just give it a chance please? Let me know what you think so far, I promise I will update soon so you don't get too bored


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**_Paige's POV_**

_'What the fuck was that?' _I thought. When I'd seen Emily this morning she'd looked at me like she'd just seen a freakin ghost. _'Could it be that… she doesn't remember me?'_ I thought about that possibility. She'd been really wasted that night after all. Well, I just thought it'd be nice to have someone to talk to on my first day here.

The first period had gone by terribly slowly. I suck at math and my Calculus teacher seemed to enjoy making fun of people like me. I was walking down the hallway to my locker when I was pulled by the arm into the restrooms.

I saw Emily standing before me looking a little anxious.

"Oh, so you know me now?" I snapped at her.

"About the other night… you didn't tell anyone about it, did you?"

"What?" I said confused.

"About how I… cried and told you about… stuff" she looked down to the floor.

"No. I didn't. You didn't tell me much anyway, you mostly just cried like a little baby 'till I got you home" I looked at her as her body relaxed, clearly relieved that I hadn't mention it to anyone. "So I was just… being ignored once more" I whispered more to myself as I shifted my gaze to the ground.

"Hey, I'm sorry, it's just… I'm very grateful for what you did for me that night, I really am. I was just worried that I might've told you some embarrassing stuff" she tried to laugh it off. "I'm really sorry I ignored you like that. I'll make it up to you; you want to join me and my friends for lunch?" she looked at me from under her dark eyelashes.

"Yeah, that'd be nice. I haven't made any friends yet" I looked at her heading for the door. "… thanks"

* * *

Lunch time was getting closer and I was starting to regret agreeing to have lunch with all of them. _'No, I can't back down now. I can do this'_ I told myself. I couldn't do that after all the trouble I had at my last school. This was my chance to start fresh and make new friends. I took a deep breath to calm myself.

"Hey, you ok?" Emily said touching my arm.

"Yeah, I'm just a bit nervous… The truth is I'm not that good at making friends" I said embarrassed.

"Well, you already made one" she smiled at me and a strange warmth crept its way up inside my body. "Don't worry, it'll be fine" And with that we made our way to the table.

"Hi, guys. This is Paige; she just got to Rosewood with her parents. We have biology together"

"Hi! I'm Hanna" the beautiful blonde smiled widely at me while stretching her hand for me to take.

"Spencer Hastings" said the brunette with a somewhat intimidating aura.

"And I'm Aria" she was small and looked like a doll.

"You look strong" Spencer said. "You do any sports?"

"Um, I was actually thinking about joining the swim team" I said sheepishly.

"Really?!" Emily beamed. I looked at her; her smile was incredibly contagious.

"Maybe you'll get some competition then Emily" Aria said.

"Emily here is the ace of the swim team" Hanna pointed out.

I was about to say something when a tall blonde came to sit beside Emily.

"Hi, babe" she said pecking her lips.

"Marion, this is Paige. She just moved here"

Marion looked at me with her grey eyes. I could feel her judging gaze all over my body and suddenly I felt very small. She put her hand out slowly.

"I'm Marion" I gulped before taking it.

"Nice to meet you" she quickly turned and started telling Emily something that had happened to her earlier.

"So, tell us some more about you, Paige. Where are you from?" Aria said to me.

"I'm from New Haven but my dad got a job offer so we came here…"

"And would you happen to have to have a boyfriend back there too? Maybe a Yale student…" Hanna said teasingly, quirking her eyebrows.

The moment she said that my mind started to think about a way to avoid the question but then I remembered I wasn't in New Haven anymore. This was Rosewood and sitting right across from me were Emily… and her girlfriend. This was a chance for me to be myself.

"I, uh… I actually had a girlfriend but… it all ended when my parents found out" I said unable to meet any of their eyes.

"Well, that sucks!" Hanna exclaimed.

I felt relieved when I saw that they hadn't freaked out. Obviously, they wouldn't have; they're ok with Emily being gay. However, I felt a pair of grey eyes fixed on me. I barely touched my food after that.

* * *

When English class had ended, Emily went with me to talk to coach Fulton and helped me join the team. She seemed very excited that I was joining and that made me that little bit happier too. Now we were making our way out to the parking lot.

"Paige, about what you said at lunch…" I tensed. Had I said something wrong? Would she freak out now? "I know coming out can be very difficult for some people. If you ever want to talk about it, I'm here ok?" she gave me a warm smile and I got a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. I felt my face growing hotter.

"Thanks…" I smiled back a bit embarrassed. "Well, if _you_ ever wanna talk you can always get drunk and call me to get you home" I said and she laughed.

"Careful, I might actually take you up on that"

We were both laughing as we got out but our laughter died as soon as I spotted Marion waiting for Emily by her car. I cleared my throat.

"Well, see you tomorrow, Emily" I smiled at her as I made my way to my bike and as I turned around my eyes met Marion's.

She might as well have come to me with a knife by the way she was looking at me.

* * *

Better? Worse? Go back to writing one-shots? Please stop writing? Ugh, let me know what you think so I know how to make this better. I hope you like this one though :) Please review!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**_Emily's POV_**

I said goodbye to Paige as I made my way to my car where Marion was waiting for me.

"Marion, what's wrong?" I asked concerned seeing the scary face she was doing. I followed her gaze to Paige. "Is something wrong with Paige?"

"I don't like her" she said. I looked at her confused. "You shouldn't hang out with her so much"

"Why? Because you say so?" I said not believing what I was hearing

"And what's that supposed to mean, Emily?" she crossed her arms in front of her.

"Well, I have practice with her and she's my friend. I don't see the problem in hanging out with her"

"Your friend? You've just met her _today_!" she said that as if she knew something else and I was taken aback.

"So? I didn't know there was a minimum amount of time for you to make friends with someone" her face contorted for just an instant and I took a step back when she tried to get closer. She stopped and looked at me with cold eyes. "I- I think I should go"

She kept my gaze for a moment and then slowly turned around and started to walk away. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and got inside the car. I sat there for a moment as I tried to calm myself. My hands were shaking. I put my head in them feeling frustrated, unable to stop the memories from a few days ago at the party.

* * *

_My eyes were closed as I swayed my body to the music. I'd had so much to drink by this point that I could barely make out where I was. I wasn't thinking, I was just doing stuff. I felt a body come closer to me._

_"It was a good thing that Marion couldn't make it to Noel's party" a girl whispered in my ear. I opened my eyes to see who it was._

_Maya put her hands on my waist but I grabbed her arms to pull away. Just then someone took me by the hand and dragged me out of the crowd. I couldn't make out who it was as we walked into the woods. Then she turned to face me._

_"Marion! What are you doing here? I thought you were at some dinner with your parents" I said beaming at her. I'd missed her all night._

_"I sneaked out for a bit and came to see you. Em, you look awful; I told you not to drink tonight"_

_"But I missed you so much" I said pouting and throwing my arms around her neck._

_"Did you?" she pulled away from me and I looked at her confused. "What's up with Maya?"_

_"Maya?"_

_"Don't play dumb, Em! I just saw you put your hands on her!" her voice was loud and it was making my head hurt._

_"No, Marion; it wasn't like th-"_

_"Why were you dancing with her in the first place?" she was moving her hands around her._

_"It was nothing! Why are you getting so angry?" I said confused._

_"You make me angry!" she pointed her finger to me. "You go out, get drunk and flirt with some girl-"_

_"I wasn't!" I choked out. Tears were falling down my cheeks now._

_"Shut up, Emily! Don't lie to me!" she turned to face away from me._

_"I'm not" I reached out to her._

_"I said shut up!" she turned back around and her hand met my face. I fell to the ground and felt my head spinning. I managed to open my eyes a little to look at her. She was pinching her nose trying to calm herself as she turned around again. I took a hand to my cheek. It was hot and it hurt. I tried to get up as fast as I could but had to lean against a tree not to fall again. I started to walk away from there quickly. I heard her calling my name but I didn't dare to look back at her right now so I just kept going._

_Before I knew it I was out of Noel's house. I walked down the street and leant against a light post. The cold metal touching my skin was a big relief. After a few minutes I pulled away and continued my way down the street, barely able to walk. I put out my phone to let my friends know I'd gone home but it slipped from my hand and fell to the ground._

_"Oh shit…!" I said. I went down to reach it but I lost my balance and fell on my ass. I heard steps coming towards me but I didn't care. Tears came to my eyes once more and I couldn't stop them from falling. Everything was falling apart and I was feeling so lonely right now._

**_Paige's POV_**

It's been a week since school started and I was getting along pretty well with Emily's friends. It was so nice being able to walk down the hallway without people staring at me, whispering things or calling me names. Hanna even said she would help me find a new girlfriend, although I told her I wasn't really looking for anything right now. That's what I kept telling myself.

"If you keep drooling over Mr. Fitz like that there's no way you're gonna pass English, Aria" Hanna was teasing the small girl as I sat down with them for lunch.

"Hey! I wasn't drooling and I'm doing great in English so far!" she countered but her face was bright red and we all laughed.

"Emily's not here?" I asked looking around.

"No. She's with Marion" Hanna said rolling her eyes. I had learned that the girls didn't like Marion that much. "God, I wish you would just steal Emily away from her. That'd be perfect"

"Hey, don't say that! The last thing I want is Marion thinking I'm after her girlfriend" I said ignoring the weird feeling in my stomach.

"Aren't you?" Hanna said giving me a knowing smile. I just sighed feeling frustrated.

I had to admit Emily was doing strange things to me. I got a weird feeling in my stomach every time I looked at her and when she smiled at me my heart started pounding like crazy. But I was scared. If I tried anything and things went wrong we would fall apart and that meant I would lose my friends too. Plus, she already had a girlfriend. Although I clearly remembered Emily crying over Marion the night I met her. She'd said that she loved her but she was so broken that night…

"Hey, McCullers!" Spencer called me.

"Sorry, what?"

"I asked you if you could come with me to the club on Saturday. I have this tennis match and I need to practice"

"It won't be any practice if I kick your Hastings ass" I smirked at her.

"If any ass is gonna get kicked it'll be yours!" she said and we all just laughed.

* * *

"Good work today, Paige! Your times keep getting better and better. Keep it up for the next meet" coach Fulton said when practice was over and we were heading to the changing rooms.

"Thanks, coach" I said with a huge smile. I wanted to tell my father about this meet as soon as possible. He had always wanted to come watch me before.

I made my way to my locker and saw that Emily was getting changed. I started to get dressed trying to ignore the girl next to me but couldn't stop a few glances from the corner of my eye. Her hair was soaking wet and there were a few droplets on her neck and shoulders. Her tanned skin was glittering and the muscles on her long legs could be seen clearly as she shifted her weight on them. She turned around and I quickly averted my gaze. I looked to the ground awkwardly, thinking of something to say.

"We missed you at lunch today" I blurted out. She looked at me for a second before continuing what she was doing.

"Yeah, Marion wanted to spend some time alone with me, so…"

"Must be good to be with someone…" I sighed. She just looked down at the ground.

"Em, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine" she gave me a quick smile and turned to look into her locker.

When we were finally dressed up and ready to leave I turned to her.

"Em, I-" she turned to look at me. "Um… do you want to go for a coffee?" she seemed to think about it and looked like she was about to say no so I quickly said "There's something I want to talk to you about… If you don't mind"

She did say I could talk to her if I needed to. The truth is I just wanted to be with her some more. She gave me a soft smile.

"Yeah, it's fine. Let's go"

* * *

Sorry this took me a little bit longer and I probably won't be able to update as much since I have school this week. But I promise I'll try to update as fast as possible. So... I hope this clarifies things a little bit. I know Paige seemed to lack some confidence at the beginning, it's just that she's been through a lot in the past. She's scared but I'll try to bring her strong personality up. I hope you like this chapter :) please leave a comment, let me know what you think!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**_Paige's POV_**

"Thanks" I told the guy that came with our orders, taking the cup of coffee to my lips as I took a glance at the girl in front of me.

"So… you said you wanted to talk to me about something" Emily began as she took a sip from her own coffee. "Are you having trouble with something?"

"No, it's not that. In fact… I think it's exactly the opposite" I said looking at her and I gave her a soft smile. "I've wanted to thank you for a while now"

"What for?" she said giving me a confused look.

"Well… I don't think you've noticed but… So far, you've made things so much easier for me at school. Having you around has been I great help" I said sincerely.

"That's great but… I still don't understand. I haven't done anything"

I shook my head. "You've done plenty. Just being yourself, letting me in. You accepted me when everyone else had pushed me away" I looked down and took a deep breath, preparing for what was coming next. "Back in New Haven, I hooked up with a friend of mine. I don't know how it happened. We were both drunk at some party and when we were alone she just… kissed me. Then she pulled away, freaked out and left me there. The day after she acted as if nothing had happened. But then she kissed me again. We didn't really talk about it, we weren't in a relationship but we weren't just friends either" I looked up to see Emily's expression. She nodded her head to show that she'd got it and so I continued. "One day… we were in my room and my mother walked in on us kissing. She started screaming things at me and then my dad came and started screaming too and Amy… she walked away" I choked out. I felt my eyes start to burn. "Ever since that day my parents have been ignoring me. Everyone at school stared at me when I walked down the hallway, whispering things. Sometimes they even called me names. My friends just disappeared and Amy never talked to me again" I wiped my tears furiously and then I felt Emily's hand cover mine on the table. I just stared at it for a moment, unable to meet her gaze. "A part of me was glad to finally get out of there… but the truth is I was terrified to come here and face everyone's rejection all over again. But then I met this incredible person who wasn't afraid of being herself" I said finally meeting Emily's eyes. "You showed me it was ok to be myself in here and now I am friends with all of you and I couldn't be happier, you know? It's been so long since I've felt like this… I had to thank you" I said giving her my most grateful smile.

Emily smiled back at me and squeezed my hand a little tighter. "Paige, you don't have to thank me. I'm so sorry about everything that happened to you and I'm so glad that you feel better now. Me and my friends really like you. You can talk to me whenever you need to, ok?" she smiled at me reassuringly and I felt my stomach flip as I smiled back.

"Thanks. Although I think not all of your friends like me that much. Marion seems to get sick every time she sees me" I said trying to make Emily talk about her.

She pulled her hand away as she leaned back on her seat. "Yeah, she just has some trouble trusting people. Don't worry, once she gets to know you she'll seem a lot nicer" I could tell she didn't quite believe what she'd just said.

I bit my lip, not sure if I should ask what'd been bugging me for a while. "Em, I… I don't wanna be rude but… is everything ok? Between you and Marion"

"Of course. Why wouldn't it be?"

"That night when we met… you were crying about her" I said giving her a soft look.

She looked down for a moment only to look back up at me with cold eyes. "Paige, I really appreciate what you did for me that night. However, please don't bring any of that up ever again" she was looking at me so intensely but I could see the fear in her eyes.

"But, Em, if there is anything-"

"There's nothing" she said before I could finish and started to get up. "I should leave now"

I quickly reached for her wrist to stop her. "Emily, I'm sorry. I won't bring it up again, I promise. Please, don't leave" I pleaded.

She looked at me for a moment before she sighed and sat down again. I knew there was something going on between Emily and her girlfriend and I could tell that Emily was suffering but I didn't want to push her away by being so persistent. I decided I had to earn her trust first. So we just talked about nothing in particular and laughed for the next hour, enjoying each other's company.

* * *

I pushed the door open and entered my house, a big smile on my face after the amazing afternoon I'd just had. I had such a great time with Emily today. It was so easy for me to be around her. Her eyes were so warm and when she smiled at me it almost felt like a pair of arms wrapping around me. I wish I could hold her for real though, make all her worries go away.

"I'm home" I said stepping into the hallway. I saw my dad sitting on the couch in the living room reading the newspaper and my mom keeping herself busy in the kitchen. Neither of them willing to acknowledge my presence. Suddenly I wasn't feeling so cheery anymore.

I walked into the living room and I sat down on the couch facing my father. "Um, dad?" he didn't look at me as he flipped the page. I continued anyway. "Today at swim practice, the coach told me my times were getting better" I hoped to get some of his attention with that but he still wasn't looking at me. "And she said she wanted me to attend the next meet. I thought maybe you'd be interested in going…" I bowed my head and looked at him from below, expectantly.

He briefly glanced at me before going back to his paper. "I can't" he said dryly.

"I haven't even told you when the meet is going to be…" I said, the hurt clearly audible in my voice.

"Yeah, I meant I won't" he said running his eyes through the paper. "I don't want to"

His words cut through me like knifes and I felt my breath get caught in my throat as my eyes stung with hot tears. Back in New Haven he would always insist on coming to all my meets. He would always push me to do better but I knew he did that because he believed in me. Now he couldn't even look at me, like I wasn't her daughter anymore. I wiped my tears off my face furiously. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction to see me break down.

I saw my mother in the kitchen making dinner. "Mom, do you need help with anything?" I said approaching her. I noticed her body tense as she stood in front of the plates.

"No, I'll call you when everything's set" she said as she tried to reach for the plates upon the shelf.

"Mom, let me h-" when I reached for her shoulder her body jumped so brusquely that the plate slipped from her hands and it shattered on the floor.

"Please! Just go to your room, ok?!"

I wasn't able to stop the tears anymore as I watched her expression of pure disgust in shock. I turned and ran for the door and out of that place. I started running as fast as I could, not sure where I was heading to. After a few minutes I couldn't breathe anymore between violent sobs. My vision was blurry from all the tears and I felt myself trip over some rock. I fell on my face and I didn't have the strength to get up. My forehead was bleeding so I just turned over my back and covered my face with my hands, unable to stop the loud sobs that were coming through my mouth.

"Paige!" I felt someone kneeling beside me and place their hands on mine. "Paige, what happened to you? Oh my god, you're bleeding!" Emily took my hands off my face and stopped me from getting up. "Don't get up just yet, it could be dangerous. Do you feel dizzy?" I gently shook my head as I let her take a look at the wound. "It looks like it's just a scratch, but be careful. Don't get up too fast" She helped me up and put my arm over her shoulders but I couldn't take a step forward. "My house's just there. Come with me so we can take a better look at your head" she said. Instead I just wrapped my other arm around her and leaned my forehead on her shoulder, careful not to leave a blood stain but the tears were soaking through her clothes anyway.

"Please, can we just… stay like this for a minute? Please…"

"Okay" she whispered. I pulled her just a little closer and she gripped the material of my jacket in her hands, holding me tight against her body while she let me cry.

* * *

"Oh my god! What happened?" a middle aged woman exclaimed as she made her way from the kitchen to us.

"Mom, this is Paige. She fell on the street and hit her head, can you help me?" we made our way into the living room and Emily made me sit on the couch while her mother came with some clean dressings. She handed them to Emily and she started to clean my wound. I swallowed hard at her proximity and I was sure she could hear my heart pounding against my chest.

"How did this happen? I have to let your parents know" Mrs. Fields said while grabbing the phone.

I let out a wry laugh. "Go on. It's not like they care anyway. They don't even want me to come back" I said avoiding Emily's worried gaze.

"Mom, can Paige stay here tonight? Please" Emily said looking back at her mom and I looked at her with surprise.

Mrs. Fields looked at me for a moment before smiling softly at me. "Yeah, of course she can. But I'll have to let your parents know anyway"

"Thank you" I said timidly.

Emily quickly took my hand and dragged me upstairs to her room. Once we got there she closed the door behind her and I looked around me nervously, suddenly feeling very aware of my surroundings.

I was alone with Emily… in her room. My heart was pounding so hard against my chest I was sure she could hear it over the silence in the room.

"Nice room" I said looking around me, trying to look calm.

"Paige…" I looked at her when she said my name. "Why where you crying outside my house? What happened to you?" I looked away and she made her way over to me to try and find my gaze once more. "Paige, you can talk to me"

I looked into her warm eyes as I took in a shaky breath. "Okay" I said.

Emily moved to sit cross-legged on her bed and signaled for me to sit across from her. I ran a hand through my hair as I did, feeling nervous again about being so close to the girl. She looked at me expectantly.

I told her about my enthusiasm for the swim meet and my dad's rejection. About my mom's outburst and how she looked at me with so much disgust, like I was some kind nasty giant bug or something. Emily just listened to me as I let my thoughts and feelings flow. I only paused when I felt her and on mine, feeling her warmth crept up my arm and to my whole body. I smiled faintly at her.

"Paige, I'm so sorry you've had to go through all this. I can't even imagine how much pain you're into" Emily said, touching my arm with the hand that wasn't on top of mine. "They're not being fair"

"I've always wanted to make them proud, you know?" I choked out as a tear rolled down my face. I quickly wiped it out, not wanting to break down in front of Emily again. "All my life I've worked so hard to make them proud and it was all for nothing. They hate me now, and I don't know how to fix this"

I felt Emily move and suddenly her arms were around my neck and I was breathing into her shoulder. "None of this is your fault, Paige. You haven't done anything wrong" she spoke softly into my ear.

I couldn't stop my tears any longer and she just let me cry some more. After a while she pulled away from me only to get us into bed. I felt exhausted from all the crying I'd just done, so it wasn't long until I fell asleep with my heart fluttering at Emily's hand holding mine.

* * *

A/N: I'm sorry this took me so long. I know I usually update really fast but school started and now I barely have time to write or even think about what I'm going to write. I'm trying though. Also I started reading Locum Tenens, so yeah... I guess I'm feeling kinda depressed right know haha. Knowing there's such a good story being written and then looking at this... *sighs* Ok, enoughof that! Again I'm sorry for the delay, I'll try to update sooner this time. Please, review! :)


End file.
